Society

Fatigue finds itself at the top of Google searches. Drained, exhausted, worn out, we suffer from the intense pace of a performance-based society, and we no longer devote as much time to sleep, despite the fact that it's considered a vital need, along with breathing and hydration.

The origins of our exhaustion

Fatigue is an age-old affliction, stemming from what stands in the way of recuperative sleep. Essential to our biorhythm, rest shouldn't be neglected. Unfortunately, and particularly in the age of the Internet and screens, we're putting a strain on our natural cycles as well as our energy expenditure. Noise, the scourge of big cities as well as of new technologies, invades much-needed silence and space for concentration. Our physical and emotional involvement, extended to all social spheres, also assaults us with all its constraining force. Our minds are scattered by noise and internal ruminations, our bodies drained of their dynamism, and we find ourselves vulnerable, more exposed to the abyss of exhaustion than ever.

Fatigue through the ages

This feeling of annihilation is nothing new. As far back as the Middle Ages, some monks, paralyzed by a grueling melancholy, found themselves unable to sing or pray with vigor and zest. Then, it was the ^17th century aristocracy's turn to get a taste of lack of rest. Oppressed by duties of the court, always in search of the perfect image and the right word, the nobility was just as prone to fatigue.

In 1869, George Beard, a New York physician, brought to light a nervous fatigue: neurasthenia. Today, this condition is known as “chronic fatigue syndrome”. It's characterized by intense physical weakness and profound sadness. “Accentuated by moderate physical exercise, it causes generalized exhaustion after exertion, which differentiates it from depression," stresses Psychologies magazine. There are many causes of chronic fatigue: microbes, viruses, the environment, psychological and/or hormonal factors, stress...

Today, we sleep less, dream less, and have more internal tensions. It's hard to leave the screen for a second, even at work. Slaves to the “better” before achieving the “good”, we're constantly seeking to renew our life experiences. Leaving, traveling the world, investing in the earth, discovering... Our ambitions grow, as does our need for sleep. It's time to reconnect our body and mind to what fatigue is calling out to us to do. It's time to take a break!

Deeper still: burn-out

Our ideals besiege us. Ready to give our all to perform, to achieve goals set by a performance-driven society, we throw away our fundamental necessities. Obsessed with performance, we fall into a state of fatigue that affects not only the professional world, but everything we think of as a function to be fulfilled, an ultimate goal. This leads to “a generalized activism, which even extends to leisure activities, where everything seems urgent, even though sorting out priorities and clearing our minds are psychological necessities,” as Psychologies also points out. Much more than just fatigue, burn-out is an illness that damages our confidence, self-esteem and self-image.

The messenger of our limits

Fatigue sheds light on what we can no longer bear, on what is damaging our health. Think of it as a friend, an internal alert that tells us that it's time to press the “off” button. A strong signal from our body, it tells us where our limits are. Let's learn to accept it, to snuggle up to its gentleness. Fatigue also represents an opportunity to take leave of the world and refocus on our inner existence.

(MH with AsD- Source : Psychologies - Illustration : Unsplash)